Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s Defense secretary nominee ensnared in sexual assault allegations, plans to release his accuser from the confidentiality agreement he had her sign, according to Sen. Lindsey Graham.

Graham, R-S.C., told NBC’s "Meet the Press" that Hegseth "told me he would release her from that agreement," adding, "I’d want to know if anybody nominated for a high-level job in Washington legitimately assaulted somebody."

Graham has said he will not take allegations from an anonymous source into consideration for Hegseth’s confirmation. 

Allowing Hegseth’s accuser to come forward publicly might lead to a spectacle similar to the confirmation process for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, during which his accuser, Christine Ford, was called to testify in the Senate about her accusations.  

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"The Pete Hegseth I know, this is not a problem I’ve been aware of," Graham said.

"However, if people have an allegation to make, come forward and make it like they did in Kavanaugh," he added, referring to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. "We’ll decide whether or not it’s credible."

A woman alleges that in 2017, she was sexually assaulted by Hegseth in a hotel room in Monterey, California.

Hegseth was not charged in the incident and insists the interaction was consensual, and the charge stemmed from a woman who regretted cheating on her husband.

Police recommended the case report be forwarded to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office for review, but no charges were filed. 

At the time of the alleged assault, Hegseth, 44, was going through a divorce from his second wife, with whom he shares three children. She filed for divorce after he had a child with another woman, according to court records and social media posts.

A payment was made to the woman, according to Hegseth’s attorney, as part of a confidentiality agreement because Hegseth feared the woman was preparing to file a lawsuit that could have cost him his job as a co-host on "Fox & Friends." 

Earlier this month, Hegseth’s attorney, Tim Parlatore, told CNN they had considered suing the woman for civil extortion before settling with a confidentiality agreement. 

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It is not yet clear whether the allegations may stand in the way of Hegseth’s confirmation. Republicans will have a 53-47 majority in the next Senate, and there is only room for Trump nominees to lose a few GOP votes, assuming no Democrats choose to back them. 

Hegseth does not appear to have lost any Republicans in the upper chamber at this point, including more moderate lawmakers such as Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. 

Hegseth met with both of them last week on Capitol Hill. According to Collins, "I had a good, substantive discussion that lasted more than an hour."

"We covered a wide range of topics ranging from defense procurement reforms to the role of women in the military, sexual assault in the military. Ukraine, NATO, a wide range of issues. I obviously always wait until we have an FBI background check and one is underway in the case of Mr. Hegseth, and I wait to see the committee hearing before reaching a final decision."

Trump's Defense secretary choice has also met twice with Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa. After their first meeting earlier this month, Ernst admitted on Fox News that she was not sold on Hegseth yet. However, after their second meeting this week, she released a statement, saying, "As I support Pete through this process, I look forward to a fair hearing based on truth, not anonymous sources."

Fox News' Julia Johnson and Tyler Olson contributed to this report. 

FIRST ON FOX: South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham sent a letter to each of the 51 former intelligence officials who signed a memo suggesting Hunter Biden's laptop had the hallmarks of Russian disinformation. 

"In your letter, you claimed that the laptop story was ‘Russia trying to influence how Americans vote,’" Graham’s letter to former CIA directors Leon Panetta and Michael Hayden, former Director of National Intelligence [DNI] James Clapper and 48 others said.

"I ask you to respond publicly to one simple question: if you knew then what you know now about the laptop, would you still have signed the October 19, 2020 letter?" 

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Graham, a Republican, has previously suggested yanking the security clearances of officials who signed the letter. 

Vice President-elect JD Vance pledged during the campaign that the incoming Trump administration would strip the clearances of all 51 signatories. 

Over the summer, Fox News Digital asked all 51 officials whether they regretted signing on to the now-debunked letter. 

"No," Obama-era DNI James Clapper responded. 

Mark Zaid, an attorney representing seven of the signatories, said it was "patriotic" for his clients to sign on to the letter. 

"There continues to be by many a calculated or woefully ignorant interpretation of the October 2020 letter signed by 51 former intelligence officials concerning Hunter Biden's laptop," Zaid said. 

Greg Treverton, a signatory who previously served as chair of the National Intelligence Council, defended the letter in a statement to Fox News Digital. 

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"This is very old news," Treverton said. "What we said was true. We were inferring from our experience, and it did look like a Russian operation. We didn't, and couldn't, of course, say it was a Russian operation. Enough said."

The now-infamous letter said their national security experience had made them "deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case."

"If we are right," they added, "this is Russia trying to influence how Americans vote in this election, and we believe strongly that Americans need to be aware of this."

Despite claims from former officials that the laptop had the hallmarks of Russian disinformation, Fox News Digital reported that federal investigators with the Department of Justice knew in December 2019 that Hunter Biden’s laptop was "not manipulated in any way" and contained "reliable evidence." But they were "obstructed" from seeing all available information, according to an IRS whistleblower involved in the probe nearly a year before the former intelligence officials and President Joe Biden declared it was part of a Russian disinformation campaign.

The laptop was introduced into evidence in a Delaware courtroom last week by prosecutor Derek Hines and handed to FBI agent Erika Jensen, who had earlier explained how the FBI authenticated the laptop and extracted data. In Hunter Biden's gun trial, she testified about dozens of text messages, metadata, photos and short videos found on phones and iCloud accounts belonging to Hunter Biden.